Omega

Sunday morning on a flea market .... (Heavy Omega content)

 

(Moderators - I'm posting here because of heavy Omega content. Be free to move to another proper place)

Every Sunday, from 9AM to 3PM, a flea market is organized under the arch of our main museum - MASP (Art Museum of Sãp Paulo).
The only Sundays where this market is closed are the ones that a political demonstration is scheduled.

MASP, It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo Bardi, whose main body is supported by two lateral beams over a 74 meters freestanding space, considered a landmark of the city and a main symbol of modern Brazilian architecture (from Wikipedia).

The museum holds several masterpieces collected along many years, in special immediately after WW II when the museum used the European crisis to acquire many pieces.

The main components of the museum collection includes:

Italian School: Raphael, Botticelli, Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Perugino, Piero di Cosimo, Guido Reni, Guercino.
French School: François Clouet, Poussin, Nattier, Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec.
Flemish, Dutch and German Schools: Hieronymus Bosch, Memling, Cranach, Quentin Matsys, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Anthony van Dyck, Jan van Dornicke.
English School: Reynolds, Romney, Constable, Gainsborough, Turner.
Modern and Contemporary Art: Picasso, Leger, Modigliani, Matisse, Chagall, Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Andy Warhol, Jim Dine.
Brazilian Art: Frans Post, Nicolas Antoine Taunay, Tarsila do Amaral, Candido Portinari, Di Cavalcanti, Anita Malfatti, Lasar Segall.
Latin and North American Art: Torres Garcia, Diego Rivera, Siqueiros, Calder, Gilbert Stuart

For sure a museum visit is almost mandatory to any art lover.

Now, let's go to the flea market

Our GTG starts early with coffee (espresso, of course), in front of the MASP, waiting the sellers to show up.

This is not a huge flea market, since the space is limited and there are two other competitors on another places here.

The stalls sells antiques, curios etc.

And watches that are the main motivation for our visit.

Let's see what we have here. Challenge - One of those watches is now mine. What is "the one"?

Omega galore. Omega was a very strong brand here (40's-60's) and there are many options.

The main challenge is to locate one that is untouched.
Because of the warm/wet climate, vintage dials suffered deterioration.
The owners tried to fix the damage by redoing the dials, a no no to any PuristS.

Options, options ... C-Shaped Connie all over.

This one has, IMHO, a weird dial.

Case back over polish on many ones.

Another redone dial.

Case back is not bad, I believe.

This one is very weird. The entire case was not "made by Omega".

Look the case back:

After perusing the stalls and chatting with the sellers, from time to time (very rare) a true "gem" pops up.
When a "gem" shows up, the first one to see it has priority. Haggling is the norm.

That was my Sunday morning and I invite any PuristS to, if in São Paulo (capital), to drop by.
Few good pieces but good friendship and, of course, discussions about watches.
On a summary: It's fun to go there.

Cheers,

Nilo